Enki's Arc Witch Memorial Page

I loved playing Diablo back in the day and wanted to play a game like it again. I been looking at playing PoE for a year now but everytime I sat down to play it I was overwhelmed by trying to figure out a good build for a character. I didn't want to just play through the acts and not be able to play any end game material. I also didn't want to have to grind for months to get equipment for a build just to play the endgame.

About 2 weeks ago I run across this thread from a best of beginner builds website. I always liked the casting types with eof and mass spell output damage. And lighting is a cool effect to watch, (Still like watching mobs on fire but lighting is still cool).

I read through your guide and it looked good and well thought out and everyone said they had success so I thought I would give it a go.

So I am a complete noob at this game. I had to learn how to just move the character on the screen and have it attack. I mean I have played diablo and such but it has been a while and even now I am still trying to figure out what actions are best on my mouse or on the keyboard.

To sum it up I being playing for about 2 weeks with about 40 hours of game time. I just finished act 10 and getting ready to make my first map. I am level 74 and most of my gems are around level 17.

I went through every map in all the acts. I mean I made sure I walked every place in every map on every act. Like I said I never played this game before and I wanted to do everything at least one going through the acts.

I will say that you build rocks hard. Remember I haven't even started a character or practice combat until I started following your instructions. No previous equipment, no grouping or even asking any questions on the forums. This is also my first post as you will see. That is how complete you guide is. In 2 weeks I mapped every act and made it to level 74 and never played PoE before. If that just doesn't say how well your guide is for the truly beginner then nothing does.

There is only like 4 bosses that I died when trying to kill them. And with regular mobs I didn't even have to do more than just arc them or OoS and arc them. That is how much damage this build does. And the dieing to bosses is because I need more practice on how to use my mouse and LW under stressful combats like with a boss. Hehehe.

That really came to light in doing Lord's Labyrinth runs. Man I had no clue how to kill the boss in the end trial and died my fair share of times. I had to wait and over level so I could finish some. In fact I have not done the 3rd one yet because I know I need more practice with LW and attack.

So me not killing the bosses without dieing is not a reflect on your guide but my lack of skill in fighting bosses. But I will get better at that ;).

Over all if I did it again I could be done in under 10 hours. I spent alot of time trying to figure out how to fight bosses and I wanted to do every side mission the first time. And I had no speed boots until like 50. When I found one I was like what the heck if I had these earlier ...

What I really liked going into this build is you didn't need uber equipment to get started. I hate having to farm equipment to just have a chance to start a new character and be successful. Your guide lays it all out and basically show you can get to the endgame pretty fast and just use equipment you find on the way.

Actually I am level 74 and still my glove are just magic and not rare and only 3 of the slots are linked and I think up until level 65 3 of my pieces were like that. I modded some eq but basically they are just beginner eq. But I feel I am ready to play some end game maps and will find better eq without just having to farm eq to play the game and have fun which was one of my goals.

Again this goes back to your guide achieving what you set out for it. Being a viable character in the end game and not having to have all the uber gear to get their.

Obviously I am a noob so I didn't get much currency, and as all noobs you get into that mode trying to mod a super cool piece of eq even when you know that they odds are 1 in 1000. But hey that is part of every game like this. And my RNG luck sucks in general, I know that and accept that. So I could have done better with my currency but I can farm more. I did get a couple of cool pieces.

At around level 45 I got a 6 socketed all blue silk robe item level 51. And I rolled some decent stats for that level of an item but you know what has been happening, every orb of fusing I get I try to get 6L. Yeah I know the odds but hey it is my dream. Best I got is twice I got it to be 4L & 2L. I know the odds are like 1 in 1500 but it will happen or I will find one. But that is part of the game. I know about the white 6L you can farm but I hate that kind of farming and I did spend 2 hours trying to get the humility cards but didn't get a one and gave up. Did I say I hate that kind of farming? I like to just do zones and find cool items not doing the looking in the haystack for a needle.

Again this is why this build is so great for beginners you don't have to have "THE SET" of equipment to have a chance at clearing zones and you can still have fun. Again I want to say that your guide delivered what it promised.

The fun part is going to be doing maps finding all the cool things out there. I am a noob. I have no clue what a good piece a gear is so everytime I find something new I will think it is the best. Like a kid on Christmas day. Thanks again @Enki91 for making this game fun to learn.

Yeah this skill is one that just takes learning. In truth with your guide you can get just 5 basic ones and spam them and do well. Heck half the time I forget to use them and would bleed out. I know I am a noob. I tried making some better ones but there is so much crafting content in this game now with the bench and the menagerie and shaper and ... Yeah it might take me a while to get a good set of flasks but it is not like you must have them now or the game is ruined. Yes I believe to be able to do the top maps and stuff you need to have really good ones but up until level 70 I all my flasks were like level 30 or below. I just never kept up with upgrading them. I was to focused on using my currency to get that damn robe to 6L. I know I am a noob hehe.

But the build is so solid that the damage output at the lower level makes up for weak flasks. Another plus for this build.

This was the hardest part for me. Not because of the guide but this is a skill you have to learn. You have to get you fingers to do the right thing with outthinking. It will take time and hopefully any beginner reading this won't get frustrated because we die to bosses over and over. I expect in the coming weeks, death after death at the hands of bosses. But this is a skill you just have to practice. I am having a hard time on timing LW to avoid getting hit. I tried holding the attack button and hitting LW when needed. Sometime that works and sometime there is so much action on the screen that it delays just enough so I get smashed. I have a high end computer setup and all graphics setting maxed on a 2k monitor. I still get 70+ fps seconds, but I am thinking when all the effects are going off I might drop down to 40fps. If it gets bad I will look at lowering the graphic setup, but I love watching everything on my 27inch 2k monitor with all the setting set on high.

Overall I think I am doing pretty good learning how to use the skills and I will get better the more I play but the point I want to make here is that your build is so OP it lets a beginner have a fighting chance at killing bosses while still learning how to work the keyboard and mouse. I mean the damage output with crappy eq is still enough that I can kill the bosses in just a few tries. This build again delivers on its promise in helping the beginner be successful.

Man what can I say about this. About a year ago I spent a couple of weeks reading everything about how to use the tree. I used the tools to make the builds and I was like WTF?!?!?!? I mean I am a computer geek. Been programming over 40 years love number crunching games but again WTF!?!?!? This game is complex in its builds. That is what first drew me to trying this game and eventually why I didn't play a year ago. I didn't want to spend months trying to make a character that was viable by just guess what skills would work.

The amount of effort you put into this guide is probably so underrated. I mean hundreds of hours had to go into this guide to get it to this point. And at the end of the day if you follow it you have a viable first character to play that is fun and if you paid attention taught you alot of basics and how skills synergize with one another. I mean there is so much to still learn and I will probably follow another guide if I try a melee or an assassin character but I have a good idea on how important crits and damage additives works.

The amount of trial and error that had to be done to get to this point is really a astonishing accomplishment.

I mean your guide really does serve as a template on how to pick related skills to complement each other. Again your guide delivered on the promise to help the beginner play and understand the game.